Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
government mechanisms and the need for better
coordination within the federal government and
among the federal, state and local governments.
The 2007 American Water Resources Association
(AWRA) Water Policy Dialogue reported to the
President and the Governors of all the states the
need for this better coordination and noted that it
was the sense of the dialogue participants that
the center of gravity (focus of responsibility) for
water issues was shifting from the federal to the
state and local level (AWRA 2007).
It is important that flood professionals appreci-
ate the difficult institutional and governance is-
sues that are part of the environment in which
they operate. It is highly probable that the inter-
faces among the many participants in flood man-
agement will continue to remain complex. Given
that situation, it is critical that all recognize the
importance of inter- and intra-agency coordina-
tion and cooperation and, while hoping for a nir-
vana that would bring greater harmonization of
the multiple aspects of flood management, con-
tinue to recognize the challenges they face and,
once seen, to deal with them.
a funding of watershed studies that might provide
a basis for projects.
Learning from the US Experience
By their nature, democratic nations create broad
political involvement in government actions.
This involvement makes development of a well-
coordinated national (not federal) flood manage-
ment program very difficult. As the USA has
grown in population and territory, it has had to
deal with the challenge of flooding and the da-
mages that result from this flooding. Clearly the
nation and its subordinate jurisdictions need to
have goals and objectives that would lead the
nation into an efficient and effective program to
deal with this flooding.
At the federal level, and within most states, no
one agency or committee is responsible for flood
management. Prior to 1983, within the office of
the President, there was a Water Resources Coun-
cil, comprising the heads of the federal agencies
with responsibilities for all aspects of water. The
Council assumed this coordinating function and
actually created the Federal interagency task
force that prepared the Unified National Program.
However, without a Council, the task force lost its
gravitas, as did the Unified National Program, and
as a result there has been no formal coordination
of the Program in over 15 years. Shortly before
Hurricane Katrina, the Corps and FEMA began
an effort to rejuvenate coordinating mechanisms
and, following Katrina, tomove to a new paradigm
in flood management by shifting from flood dam-
age reduction to flood riskmanagement. Although
not formally endorsed by either the Administra-
tion or the Congress, the program is proceeding
on an informal basis. In carrying this out both
FEMA and the Corps have emphasized that nei-
ther insurance nor structures eliminate the total
risk to those who live and work in the floodplain.
This new approach, spurred by the lessons
learned in Katrina and the floods subsequent to
Katrina, is bringing together the different levels
of government and is focusing attention on
those disconnects that exist among the various
References
Arnold, J.L. (1988) The Evolution of the 1936 Flood
Control Act. US Army Corps of Engineers, Fort
Belvoir, VA.
Association of State Floodplain Managers Foundation
(ASFPMF) (2008) Floodplain Management 2050,
ASFPMF, Madison, WI.
AWRA (2007) Summary Highlights of the Third Nation-
al Water Resources Policy Dialogue. American Water
Resources Association, Middleburg, VA.
Carter, J. (1977) ExecutiveOrder 11988, FloodplainMan-
agement. The White House, Washington.
Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task
Force (1994) A Unified National Program for
FloodplainManagement. Federal EmergencyManage-
ment Agency, Washington DC.
Flood Control Act of 1928 (1928) 45 Stat. 534, 33 U.S.C.
7O2a
Flood Control Act of 1936 (1936) 49 Stat. 1570, 33 U.S.C.
7Ola
Flood Liability Act, Assembly Bill 70 (2007) State of
California, Chapter 367, Statutes of 2007.
